Conventionally, a lighting device is provided in a separate housing with a transparent covering pane to this end.
In order to ensure minimum identifiability in the case of an activated lighting device, a certain minimum size of the lighting device and hence of the separate housing is required, even though the light sources accommodated therein may require less space. However, this minimum size also has disadvantages in terms of the design freedom for the lighting device and the motor vehicle.
Document DE 10 2007 015 703 A1 discloses a motor vehicle with an external lacquer, wherein the motor vehicle includes a fluorescent and/or phosphorescent substance admixed to the external lacquer or to part of the external lacquer for emitting light in a visible range when irradiated by light in a non-visible range. This should create a motor vehicle comprising a lighting device which is virtually invisible to an observer in the non-luminous state. However, the solution proposed in this document has no influence on the size of the lighting device and/or on the size of the housing of the lighting device.